Nanotechnology General News

The latest news from academia, regulators
research labs and other things of interest

Posted: November 5, 2008

Thomas Swan Gains Second Carbon Nanotube EPA Approval

(Nanowerk News) Thomas Swan & Co. Ltd. has announced that the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has granted an approval for manufacture and sale of the company’s high-purity Elicarb® SW single-walled carbon nanotube product following a comprehensive review with the specialist manufacturer.

This is the first consent order for a PMN (Pre-Manufacturing Notice) from the EPA for single-walled carbon nanotubes and when combined with last month’s consent order for the company’s multi-wall product means that Thomas Swan is the only organisation currently licensed to sell commercial quantities of carbon nanotubes in the USA.

Thomas Swan has worked closely with the US regulators to set these standards to ensure carbon nanotubes can be safely used in industry as manufacturers seek to scale-up novel processes and applications using these innovative materials.

Swan’s Elicarb® SW product is at the center of a number of commercial pilot projects in many new applications including ultra-strength composites and high performance electronics.

Swan Chemical Inc. of Lyndhurst, New Jersey, is the American subsidiary of UK-based Thomas Swan & Co. Ltd. and the company’s US president Chuck Van Fleet commented: ‘The support of the EPA in the control of nanomaterial manufacturing gives industry a secure basis on which to develop this important, emerging technology. The consent order ensures Elicarb® products can be used in a consistent, responsible way to develop commercial processes that are robust and reliable.’

Swan has been working with industry and governmental agencies and contractors on nanomaterial development projects in advanced composites including thermally and electrically conducting plastics, high-strength materials and several advanced electronic applications including memory systems and flat-screen display technologies.

The Swan data has also been committed to the Nanomaterials Stewardship Program, an EPA initiative to collect and record information about nanomaterial use in industry.

Thomas Swan & Co. Ltd. – the UK based parent company of Swan Chemical Inc. - is a European leader in standard-setting in the chemical and related industries. The company was among the first to achieve the International Standards Organisation (ISO) 14001, 9001 accreditation for Environmental Management and was a pioneer of the Chemical Industries Association Responsible Care program.